The present invention relates generally to printing presses and more particularly to a signature transport device for transporting printed products.
A web printing press, for example for newspapers, will print a continuous web of material. In a folder of the printing press, the web will be folded, if desired, and then cut, so that signatures result. The signatures can then be conveyed on a conveyor and transferred by a signature transfer device to another conveyor for further processing or delivery.
European Patent Application No. 0771 675 A1 discloses a device for removing signatures from a saddle conveyor supporting the signatures. The conveyor has cutouts that permit the signatures to be gripped from above by a rotating clamping device, which then further conveys the signatures to a belt conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,066 discloses a device for removing signatures from a saddle conveyor that moves the signatures over cutouts in a sword. Grippers grip the outside of the signature from above and transfer the signatures to a further conveying device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,139 discloses a device for removing printed products from a sword having a rotatingly-driven gripping device with controlled gripping elements, control elements controlling the gripping elements, and a measuring device connected to the control elements to measure a thickness of the printed products. A pneumatic drive which does not rotate with the grippers adjusts a drive plate which has curve levers to adjust the control elements.